There was never a game called northern union - there was a governing body called The Northern Rugby Football Union - the sport played was and remains rugby football, or rugby for short. Australian rugby league folk might be keen to hand over their identity to union but that is because rugby league in australia is very weak - it shouldn't be allowed to happen in the UK.

the point you missed was the fact that the NU saw themselves as running a game of rugby union

it was the same rules initially, just a differing governing body

whatever traditions exist in english RL dont have to carry over to australia

why should people from major metropolis' like brisbane and sydney have to copy the quaint traditions of several towns in rural northern england?

in australia is a major sport with saturation media coverage

this came about because the sport developed with significant indiginous contribution.

still its important for you guys to maintain your heritage

we dont need to parrot it.

You don't need to parrot it at all, when other, stronger, sports have decided what they are going to be called you can pick up the leftovers. Footy is taken, by the way so you are left with "league" for now - that stands out doesn't it?

You don't need to parrot it at all, when other, stronger, sports have decided what they are going to be called you can pick up the leftovers. Footy is taken, by the way so you are left with "league" for now - that stands out doesn't it?

footy is what we call RL in nsw and queensland

football refers to the dominant football code in your area

for 60% of australia football means RL

sadly in england when i told someone i was going to the footy they thought it meant soccer!

I'm pretty sure that the Aussies would have called RL "rugby" in the early days

If they'd stuck to calling it that then perhaps the RU is Oz would have had to refer to its game as Rugby Union

Was all "rugby" until the early 1970s. Before WW2 there was just "professional rugby" and "amateur rugby".If/when distinction was required in conversation or print, then "league" or "union" was used on its own or it was RL or RU. In the 1970s the NSWRL changed its match program from "Rugby League News" to "Big League", and the Ch7 tv coverage was called "Seven's Big League".

I must say that I side with Paley's views on this one re RL in Australia. I tried to get this issue prominence in 2003 when the R(U)WC was on here, but very few in RL here (media, fans, officials) care about it at all - they simply don't see it is a problem for the code.

Sure there's an element of impact from RU's push to be seen just as "rugby", but to be frank, most of the way the code formerly known as "rugby league" - but now known as "league" - is referred to here is entirely of our own doing.

I've written articles for major magazines and newspapers here over the past decade and NOT ONCE has an editor re-edited my work to change "rugby union" to "rugby", or "rugby league" to "league".

It's all a sad reflection of the RL community here still - after 15 years - still not come to the realisation that there are now 3 other professional football codes in NSW/QLD competing with RL.

A similar example exists with the salary cap - a tool implemented in the early 1990s when RL had no external competitors, and hopelessly inappropriate for the world RL exists in today.